Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Week of February 11, 2013: Solnar/Whip Bear

Dear Everyone,

This week was good, if a little different from usual. This weekend was the lunar new year, called Solnar, which is the biggest holiday in Korea. Since everyone spends it with their families, almost everyone we meet with was out of town, and we couldn't really talk to any of them. But we've been able to study some more, and also do a mandated half-day cleaning of our apartment, which was interesting. We found some good stuff, including a whiteboard with a little white cartoon bear holding a teddybear on it, and written next to it in English: "Whip Bear".

I hope everyone's doing well. It seems like it from all the things I've heard. We had a meeting today with all the other missionaries who are doing training, which was pretty long but also good. It's kind of hard to believe that everyone can come from the same place, basically---but they all have their own backgrounds, and things they can help people with---it's cool.

This week has also been pretty cold for us---it seems like everyone else in Utah is still having a similar experience. It doesn't really snow here much, it's just really clear and super cold. But we usually ride the bus a lot, which helps out---it's not too bad. Almost none of our regular ward members came to church this week, but lots of visitors did, and because of the holiday there was just sacrament meeting at 5:00 p.m. It was probably for the best anyway, since I had to give a not-too coherent talk. It did make me realize how great our ward members are. They're really supportive, even though there aren't too many of them, and they're all very helpful and unique.

I hope you're all doing well, and feel how much Heavenly Father loves you and is supporting you in your lives. I'm so grateful for all of you, for your letters, and hope you're all happy and doing well. Thanks again---keep it up.